Death Star Surprise
by LPK9
Summary: Governor Tarkin and Darth Vader are surprised in the Death Star control room. Leia Organa is determined, Luke is indignant, Obi-Wan is smug, and Padme is waiting. A New Hope AU crackfic with angst. Now a mini fic.
1. Chapter 1

Governor Wilhuff Tarkin took a menacing step to loom over the tiny princess of Alderaan.

"I grow tired of asking, so it will be for the last time … where is the main Rebel base?"

Leia Organa lowered her head in defeat, "Dantooine. They're on Dantooine."

"There, you see, Lord Vader?" Tarkin said with a supercilious smirk. "I told you she could be reasonable. Continue with the operation. You may fire when ready."

"What?!" the princess gasped.

Darth Vader sighed softly. This whole interaction was too tedious. Tarkin had lied to Organa, Leia Organa had lied (about the base location) to Tarkin, and the end result was the same. Alderaan would be destroyed, and he, Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith, would have to find another way to determine the true location of the Rebel base.

"You're far too trusting," Tarkin stated, "Dantooine is too remote to make an effective demonstration but don't worry; we will deal with your Rebel friends soon enough."

"No!" Organa cried out as she took a step forward. Vader reached a hand out to clasp the woman's slight shoulder and yanked her close to him.

A moment, a second, a fraction of a second later, the young woman twisted around in his grip and lifted her suddenly unbound hands towards him. He found himself, to his complete astonishment, hurling through the air from the hardest Force push he'd experienced in more than a decade.

He crashed into a wall, denting it dramatically, before bouncing back to his feet in disbelief. What was _that?_

Tarkin was standing in the middle of the room now, his hands around his throat, his face convulsing with a desperate need for oxygen. Leia Organa stood with her hands outstretched toward the desiccated form of the startled governor. To one side were a series of technicians with their mouths hanging open; to the other, four stormtroopers stood in confusion, waiting for an order to fire, but Tarkin couldn't and Vader wouldn't. Organa was obviously a powerful and trained Force user, and he would deal with her personally.

Vader lit his lightsaber and charged toward the girl just as …

Just as the door slid open and two humans rushed in. One, an older man, bearded, bearing a blue lightsaber.

Obi-Wan Kenobi!

The other was a young man of about 20 standard years, his hair blond, his clothing tan and shaggy, and in his hand he carried a glowing white lightsaber.

Vader snarled with rage and bewilderment and raced toward his old master. Kenobi blocked his old student with ease, then riposted rapidly, forcing Vader to focus on not losing a limb.

Not that he had any doubt that he could defeat the aged Jedi. Obi-Wan looked old, and decrepit, and weathered, and … and … rather grimy, even. But it would take some time to take the man's head off and in the meantime ...

In the meantime, the unknown youth had tossed a lightsaber to the princess of Alderaan, and she had lit it to display another blue blade, which she proceeded to use to tear through the stormtroopers like so much saltnut butter.

The young man was obviously also trained, because he deflected a few shots from the Imperial troopers to help the princess before turning his attention back to Vader and Kenobi. He stepped forward in support of the old man. Vader knocked the youth back but failed to deliver a killing blow, then swung around in time to land a series of blows on Kenobi's saber. His old master staggered back and Vader pressed forward, only to lurch to one side as the Force screamed a warning.

Now Organa had joined the fight, having killed all the troopers and technicians, plus Tarkin whose life had ended not from lack of oxygen, but from losing a head. Indeed, it was one against three and while Vader was the most powerful Force user of his generation save Palpatine, he might well be in trouble here …

"Leia!" The youth cried out. "What did he do to you?"

Vader retreated toward a control panel and drew the power of Darkness toward himself. If his adversaries were fool enough to discuss the princess's unpleasant experiences, it would give him time to make plans.

Organa narrowed her eyes though she kept them fixed on the Dark Lord, "What do you think he did? Murdered my shipmates on the _Tantive IV_, dragged me here, and spent hours torturing me in a feeble attempt to find the location of the Rebel base."

Feeble? His interrogation had hardly been _feeble._

He opened his mouth in vague protest only to be nearly knocked over by a sudden wave of horror and anger and … and hurt emanating from the young man.

The boy was strong! And what was that emotion? Dismay? Bewilderment? He was a Sith Lord. What did the young man expect?

"He ... he tortured you, Leia? I … I didn't imagine that even he, as evil as he is, would do something so ... so …"

"I told you, Luke," Kenobi said. Why did the man sound positively smug? "I told you, he is more machine now than man …"

"_Twisted and evil!"_ The princess and 'Luke' chimed simultaneously, sounding both irritated and sarcastic.

"Honestly, Obi-Wan, I am going to buy a holoframe for you and put it on your wall," Luke said irritably. "It will say, _He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil._ You can wake up to its blinking words every morning."

"You really do say it a lot, Obi-Wan," the princess said in a regal tone. "It gets dull."

"My apologies to you both," the old Jedi said with a twist of his lips. "I would hate to bore you. But regardless of the words, I believe the message is true enough. He obviously has no fragment of Anakin Skywalker left in him …"

Vader flinched in spite of himself.

"That name no longer has any meaning for me," he snarled coldly.

The young man, Luke (Luke, Luke, why was that name familiar?) gazed at him with oddly familiar, and very reproachful, eyes.

"I guess it doesn't, huh?" he said quietly. "If you could do such a thing to Leia, of all people, there really is nothing left of your former self."

To the princess, of all people? Why would he care about the well being of the princess?

"I didn't tell him," Leia Organa suddenly announced in a rather defiant tone.

There was another wave of astonishment from the young man, and the blue eyes (again, so familiar!) shot a quick glance at the girl.

"You didn't tell him? Are you crazy?"

"_Tell me what_?" Vader wondered.

"No," the girl replied, standing up straight, her brown eyes flashing. "I had no idea you would show up here and I kept silent for you, to protect you. What was I supposed to say?"

"How about the truth?" the boy answered in a snarky tone. "Lord Vader, I'm your biological daughter so can you please not torture me?"

"What?" Vader sputtered out, though his wobbly incredulity was masked by the bass of the vocoder.

"That would have been a bad idea," Organa replied without acknowledging the Sith's bewildered utterance, "He would have said something like '_No, Amidala died on Mustafar_.'"

Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith, took a shaky step backward and his sword hand dropped briefly. The princess knew about … about Padme? What was this?

"He wouldn't call her Amidala," the young man stated indignantly, his eyes on Vader's black mask. "He would call her Padme. They were married, after all."

"There is nothing left in this broken down husk of the man that was once Anakin Skywalker," Leia Organa retorted angrily, "Nothing."

"He's more machine now than man," Kenobi pontificated again.

"Twisted and evil!" both young people chorused sarcastically.

The princess continued irascibly, "I wasn't just protecting Mother. Vader would have asked, '_What about your twin, Princess? If you are really whom you claim you are, where is your twin?"_

Twin?

The boy shook his head, "He didn't know his wife was carrying twins, Leia."

Now the girl rolled her eyes dramatically, "That is ridiculous, Luke. Ridiculous! There is no way in all the star systems and nebula that Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader, the most powerful Force user of his generation, would not have spent _two seconds _scanning his wife's pregnant torso to learn that she was carrying twins. It is impossible he could have been that clueless. He knew there were twins."

The Sith Lord felt his damaged eyes bugging out, and his voice was barely above a whisper, "Padme was carrying twins?"

Leia Organa's jaw dropped in disbelief for a long moment. Then she shook her head, "I stand corrected. You truly were that clueless."

Luke groaned aloud and lowered his saber slightly, "Let's start from the beginning. Lord Vader, my name is Luke Skywalker and I am your son. Leia Organa is my twin sister and therefore she is your daughter. Mom survived Mustafar, had a rough time giving birth, spent 9 years in a coma, has been steadily recovering since then and is now alive and well and full of vim and vigor."

There was a long frozen moment as Darth Vader stood, shaking visibly, his saber wobbling in his hand, his gaze shifting from dark haired girl to blond youth to his old master, ragged and old.

"Padme … Padme died on Mustafar, didn't she, Obi-Wan?" he finally asked tremulously. His vocoder didn't know what to do with the tone and his words stopped and started, but he managed to convey the message.

"No," Kenobi said gravely, his eyes narrowed with … what was that, confusion? "No, she survived, as Luke said, and gave birth to the twins the next day."

"She's … she's alive?" he asked, and found himself leaning against a convenient wall for support, his lightsaber dropping to the ground. "Padme is alive? Where … where is she?"

Luke tilted his head toward the transparisteel window where Alderaan floated serenely in space, "She's on Alderaan with Leia's adoptive parents, the Organas."

Darth Vader slumped farther and beat his mask slowly and methodically against the wall. He could sense the truth in the young man's words, and in his old master's as well. His wife was alive, his (twin!) children were alive, and if the Death Star had destroyed Alderaan, he would have lost his precious Padme (again) without even knowing it.

He heard the familiar sound of a lightsaber but didn't bother looking up. If they wanted to kill him, that was fine, except … except …

He leaped to his feet, his saber skittering into his hand, and then watched in astonishment as his daughter, her own blue blade dancing to and fro, proceeded to destroy the panels and technical readouts which controlled the Death Star superlaser.

"That is but a temporary solution," he pointed out.

"I know," the princess, his daughter, said with a flash of her brown eyes, "but it's a start. Luke and Master Kenobi, let's chop off his arms and legs and get off the space station so we can figure out how to blow up this monstrosity. Or we can kill him, but I suppose you won't go for that, Luke."

"Absolutely not," Luke replied indignantly. "And you know Mom would be upset too. She believes there is still good in him."

"We would be fools to leave him alive," Kenobi replied, his aged eyes a mixture of sorrow and determination. "He's more machine …"

"Don't even say it!" yelped Leia. "Just don't!

Three pairs of eyes fixed on Vader and three lightsabers rose to the first position, and three pairs of feet stepped closer and Darth Vader lifted his own saber.

And stopped.

"Take me with you," the deep voice requested plaintively.

Kenobi stopped, his brow furrowed in bewilderment, "What?"

"Take me with you," the Sith repeated. "Please. I must see Padme with my … with my own eyes."

"Do you think that after what you did to me that we're going to trust you?" the princess demanded incredulously.

"No," Vader replied blankly, humbly. "No. I do not … I do not expect you to trust me. But … but I must see her. I must. And I can … I can help you. I can help you destroy the Death Star, and it must be destroyed to keep you all safe. And I can help you get off this space station. Please."

His former master and his twin children exchanged doubtful glances and then young Luke Skywalker shrugged, "I like it. Let's bring him."

"It's not safe, Luke," Obi-Wan began. "He is more …"

He trailed off as Leia jabbed the old man in the stomach with her left elbow.

"What if he tries to kill us all?" she demanded harshly.

"I won't," Vader replied as sincerely as possible.

The princess stared at him fiercely and he sensed her probing him powerfully with the Force. She shielded … so well. So incredibly well. How had he missed her Force sensitivity?

The girl's beautiful face relaxed.

She gazed at her twin (her twin!) and smiled, "Ok, I'm with you. Let's do this!"

/

_The Palace Roof (Docking Bay #3)_

_Aldera_

_Alderaan_

_45 minutes later_

Padme Amidala Naberrie Skywalker waited until the ramp of the _Millennium Falcon_ hit the ground, and half a second later she was racing up the ramp.

She was met at the entrance of the ship by Obi-Wan Kenobi. The old Jedi, usually so calm, was nearly wild eyed and he promptly began babbling.

"This is a terrible idea, Padme, but the twins wouldn't be convinced. He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil!"

She strode past him and found Captain Solo emerging from the cockpit. She had rather taken to the young man on their trip from Tatooine to Alderaan. He seemed like a good man in a fight.

"This is going to cost you, Naberrie," the man said with an irritable growl. "I didn't get paid to let the likes of_ him_ on my ship."

At the Corellian's side stood the giant Wookiee Chewbacca. He too was obviously distressed and was muttering away in Shyriiwook.

She flung them both a startled look and picked up her pace, entering the main cabin of the _Falcon _a moment later.

Leia stood to one side of the door and Padme threw her arms around her daughter, "Oh Leia, Leia! Are you all right?"

She stepped back slightly and gazed fiercely into her daughter's brown eyes, "Did he hurt you?"

Her daughter tossed her chin up in a gesture all too similar to that of Anakin Skywalker in his youth, "He did hurt me, Mother, but I'm fine."

There was a sound to her right and Padme turned just as Darth Vader, two meters tall, dark and ominous, rose slowly to his feet from a chair. At his side was the slight form of her beloved son.

"And Luke," she asked tremulously, studiously avoiding looking directly into the black mask of the Sith Lord. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," the young man assured her with a shaky smile. "Just fine. Vader … _Father_ insisted on coming with us to see you."

The former queen of Naboo sucked in a breath and turned her direct gaze on the cyborg. She had seen images of Vader on the holonet; indeed, she had identified her former husband by his typical movements and tells though they were somewhat disguised by the heavy armor. But only now, in his presence, did she truly understand how much he had changed. He was taller, and huge, and menacing, and …

Vader spoke, and again his deep voice was nothing like that of his former identity, "Padme."

"Anakin?" she whispered back.

He took a step forward, and she straightened her body, determined not to flinch or show fear before the man who had been her best friend and lover and husband and father of her children and was now … this.

The Sith stared at her for another long moment, and she noted his body was trembling noticeably.

"It is true," the deep voice murmured. "You're alive, Padme. You're alive."

"Of course I am," she began, then broke off as the giant fell to his knees before her, as the great gloved hands lifted up and, to the shock of all present, lifted off the mask to reveal a horribly disfigured face.

Padme's eyes filled with tears and she felt the liquid drip down her cheeks as she stared into the blue eyes which were set in a heavily scarred visage. His eyebrows were gone, she noted abstractly, and the nose had been reshaped by fire. She stepped closer and knelt down next to him and this close, she could hear the horrible wheezes from the damaged lungs.

"I can die in peace," the ragged voice stated now, this one similar to the young man who had won her heart long ago, "because I have seen your face again with my own eyes, dear Padme."

She was crying hard now. She leaned forward to clasp the armored chest and she planted a fierce kiss on the damaged forehead and then, with the strength forged from assassination attempts and war and battles and lava and childbirth, she dug deep inside for that most fragile of all things: hope.

Firmly, Padme Skywalker reached for the mask which lay at the Sith Lord's side.

"Help me put this back on, Ani," she ordered. "And then let's talk about how we can destroy that horrifying monstrosity hanging out there in space."

The End.

_Author Note: I could seriously go so much farther with this, obviously. BUT I have 2 other fanfics I'm working on. So for now, a one shot. My editor is suspicious, though, as I'm notorious for making one shots, two shots, and then three shots…we'll see, won't we?_


	2. Chapter 2

_Author Note: Ok, now it's a two shot. _

_Emperor's Throne Room_

_Imperial Palace_

_Imperial City_

_Imperial Center_

_One week later_

"Your Highness, Darth Vader awaits your pleasure."

Darth Sidious, known to most as Emperor Palpatine, did not bother to glance at his major domo. The man was competent and quiet, both in demeanor and in the Force. Usually, Palpatine found the man soothing but nothing was soothing right now.

He considered, briefly, ordering Vader to wait. The junior Sith could stew in his armor for an hour or two until his master called him to make feeble excuses for the destruction of the Death Star.

The Death Star. Destroyed. Decades of work. Trillions of credits. Millions of sentient hours, all lost in one cataclysmic explosion.

Sidious ground his aged, yellow teeth together, and the corresponding scraping sound caused both his major domo and the nearby six Imperial Royal Guards to tense in response.

He'd already killed a dozen guards in a fit of fury when the news had reached Imperial City that his precious Death Star was a million, billion fragments of space dust.

He forced himself to relax and waved a languid hand, "Order Lord Vader here immediately."

"Yes, your Highness."

Sidious slowly rotated his throne around to face the elevator, waiting with grim pleasure for his middle aged apprentice to stride into the Throne Room. Darth Vader never showed fear outwardly, but he certainly generated fear in the Force when faced with his enraged Master. And this time, of all times, the younger Dark Lord was no doubt shaking in his boots.

Palpatine lifted both hands and held his thumbs and index fingers apart. At his mental command, arcs of lightning jumped from thumbs to fingers. It was always a good idea to warm up a bit when preparing to properly chastise his apprentice.

The elevator door slid open. Sidious lifted his eyes and then frowned slightly. Vader was here, but he had a companion. Behind them were two white armored stormtroopers, who retreated back into the elevator at the tall Sith's command.

The aged eyes narrowed and focused and the ugly lips pursed thoughtfully. Leia Organa of Alderaan? Why in all the nebula had Vader brought her here? Was it possible that the cyborg thought to mitigate his own punishment by bringing an alternate sentient on which Palpatine might focus his rage?

If so, Vader was a fool. Yes, Organa was no doubt neck deep in the infant Rebel Alliance. But it was the younger Sith who was responsible for protecting the Death Star plans and the Death Star. Organa would die unpleasantly, but Vader would also garner his own share of agonizing pain, though Sidious would be careful not to inflict any permanent damage. There were no others in the galaxy as powerful in the Force as the former Anakin Skywalker, and Palpatine still needed him.

The two humans, the enormously tall Sith and the tiny princess, had climbed the stairs now. Vader knelt before his master while Leia Organa stared at Palpatine with a disdainful look on her face. Idly, the Emperor noted that her hands were bound with shock manacles. That seemed like an unnecessary precaution, but this whole situation was odd.

"Rise, Lord Vader."

Vader rose obediently and bowed his head slightly, "My master."

"You have brought Senator Organa, I see," Sidious murmured, leaning back and allowing his fury to wash silently through the Force.

He felt the resultant flinch from his apprentice, which was echoed, oddly enough, by a surge of Force power from Organa. He frowned at the young woman. Organa was intelligent and determined, but she wasn't a Force Sensitive.

Was she?

"My master, during my interactions with Senator Organa, I discovered a remarkable fact," Vader stated, his tone odd even through the vocoder. He held out his hand horizontally with a datapad balanced atop it, and the Emperor called it into his own hand.

This whole situation was bizarre. The Death Star was the important thing. Why …?

The yellow eyes focused on the holopad screen and the withered heart constricted in stunned disbelief.

"Paternity match: Anakin Skywalker, Leia Organa. 99.995%."

"What?" he muttered, more flummoxed than he had been since the Death Star had exploded five days ago. He didn't appreciate all these shocks to the system.

"I have confirmed that Princess Leia Organa is the biological progeny of the former Jedi Anakin Skywalker," Vader said carefully. "She displayed Force training in the Death Star control room and killed Tarkin using this lightsaber when Kenobi arrived to rescue her."

The partially mechanical Sith held out his other hand and Palpatine irritably summoned the lightsaber to himself. It was, he realized incredulously, the lightsaber of Anakin Skywalker, lost at Mustafar 19 years ago.

"The princess escaped with the assistance of the old Jedi," Vader continued, his Force sense tumultuous with anger and confusion. "I managed to take custody of Organa on Alderaan but Kenobi escaped, and the Death Star was destroyed by Rebel agents during my pursuit of … of Skywalker's daughter."

Darth Sidious lifted his eyes and focused them on Leia Organa, whose chin rose defiantly.

"Yes, your Highness," she said viciously, "the daughter of Padme Amidala lives. I may well die today but I will die at peace, knowing that I did my small part to destroy the Death Star."

"Padme Amidala," Sidious mused, and allowed his lips to widen in what was supposed to be a fatherly smile. Leia thought he looked more constipated than anything else; it wasn't unlikely, actually, given that he was a rather a physical wreck. Perhaps Sith Lords often had disastrous digestions?

"Guards, leave us," Palpatine ordered the red robed sentinels who stood along the side of the Throne Room. They obeyed instantly, leaving Leia alone with Vader and Palpatine.

The Emperor took two more steps towards the girl until he loomed over her. He focused his incredible Force power on her shields and pushed until they broke apart like ice obliterated by an electron torpedo.

For the first time since the Death Star had been destroyed, Sidious genuinely smiled. The girl, the princess, was powerful in the Force, so _very _powerful. And while partially trained, still young and flexible. There was passion in that beautiful face, and determination, and yes, anger.

The old man cast a brief, speculative glance at Vader. The cyborg had been badly damaged on Mustafar and had failed to protect the Death Star. Here was his daughter: young, whole, available. The situation was a surprise and thus Sidious had not had time to plan, but this moment might be the perfect one to cast aside the father in favor of the daughter.

"Amidala's daughter," he said aloud, reaching out a skeletal hand and brushing the girl's cheek with one spindly finger. "I am surprised I did not recognize how much you look like your late and lamented mother. But I admit to being more interested in Anakin Skywalker. I assume Obi-Wan Kenobi never told you what happened to your father?"

"He told me enough," Leia hissed. "He told me that with manipulation and enticement, you seduced Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side of the Force. My biological father was a good man, but he was destroyed by the Dark Side and became Darth Vader."

The Emperor jerked slightly in surprise. So she did know!

"I see," he replied thoughtfully. "Perhaps you believe, however, that your biological relationship will protect you in your current situation? I assure you it will not."

Leia shot an angry glance at the towering Sith at her side, "I assure you that I have no illusions about Vader after he tortured me for hours on the Death Star. He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil."

Sidious bit the inside of his cheek to keep from giggling in delight. So Vader had tortured her, presumably before he knew the truth? It couldn't be better …

There was a sudden flash of warning in the Force and the Emperor shifted _too late_ as the lightsaber in his hand abruptly switched on and swung down with incredible power _to take off his right arm near the shoulder_.

Darth Sidious screamed in agony.

Dear Moonglow, it hurt. It hurt it hurt it hurt it hurt.

"Master!" Vader cried out, gesturing toward Organa. The girl was flung across the room and crashed into a wall as Vader lit his saber and stepped forward to protect the elderly Sith. "Master, are you all right?"

Palpatine gripped his right shoulder and used all his considerable will and strength to take the pain, to mold it into Force power, to stand as tall as possible before the young woman who staggered to her feet holding her bound arms awkwardly.

He must not show weakness before an enemy, he must not.

"It's only a flesh wound," he rasped, shifting slightly so she couldn't see how much damage she had done. "That was most unwise, Princess Leia. I will …"

Vader spun around and swept his lightsaber down and around and Darth Sidious, Emperor of the galaxy, fell to the ground, his bulging eyes and contorted face and stunned brain noting that losing four limbs was even worse than losing one.

"Vader," he gasped, "what …"

He trailed away as he realized what exactly had happened.

"He's, uh, overthrowing you," Leia Organa said with a snarky smile, marching over just as the Emperor's limbless body was lifted by Vader into the air using the Force. She fiddled briefly with her bonds, and they dropped with a clatter to the floor. "I would have thought that was obvious."

"You will pay for this, Vader, if it is the last thing I do!" the Emperor growled in fury even as his eyes glowed luminescent yellow. Only his remarkable ability in the Force was keeping him conscious through the agony. Briefly, he attempted to generate Force Lightning but he only succeeded in zapping himself. Apparently he needed arms to use Force Lightning.

"I think the last thing you will do is probably going to be a lot less interesting, like whine until Vader decides to end you," Organa said with regal tilt of her chin.

"Are you all right, my daughter?" Darth Vader asked worriedly. "I threw you harder than I intended."

Leia shrugged, "Maybe a minor strain of my left wrist. Can you open the door?"

"No," the cyborg said. "I don't have the command codes."

"They'll have to use lightsabers, then."

Sidious, in the midst of the agony of being suddenly a torso and head, watched in dismay as white and blue blades began cutting through the doors of the elevator from the other side. A minute later, a human sized panel fell forward and the elderly form of Obi-Wan Kenobi forced his way through, followed by a dark haired blond youth and … and …

"Amidala!" Palpatine snarled incredulously.

"Palpatine," Padme replied as she strode up to the floating despot, her face a mixture of disdain and compassion. "Much as I loathe you, I have to admit this is rather distressing. Did you have to cut all his limbs off, my love?"

"Yes, Padme, I did. He is incredibly dangerous. " Vader replied. "And as a matter of fact, his injuries, while extensive, pale next to mine on Mustafar. If we dip him in a vat of molten lava, we could replicate my own painful experiences."

"I am sorry about that, Anakin," Kenobi replied, looking rather shame faced.

"That name …"

"No longer has any meaning for me!" Luke and Leia chorused insolently.

"It is the name of your true self, Anakin," Padme said gravely, reaching forward to touch her husband's left hand. "You've only forgotten. I know there is still good in you. The Emperor hasn't driven it from you fully."

The giant sighed and curled his fingers gently around his wife's small hand, "For your sake, Padme, I will try, though given my actions of the last 19 years, I doubt that I will be accepted by those who seek to rebuild the Republic."

"We'll worry about that later," Padme said briskly, turning to face Palpatine. "I'm sorry about the loss of limbs, but you brought it on yourself, former Emperor."

Palpatine's mind was flying here and there in a near panic. Vader was powerful, his daughter was powerful, Kenobi was powerful, and the unknown blond youth was powerful. He could not prevail against all of them, especially after he had been fool enough to lower his guard and allow Vader to take off his limbs.

All he had left was his twisted mind, his Force suggestion, and his tongue.

"I believe you are unwise to trust Lord Vader," he stated, staring directly into Padme Amidala Naberrie Skywalker's brown eyes. "He may say he cares for you, but the reality is that he attacked you on Mustafar, did he not?"

"Yep, he did," Amidala said insouciantly. "But the twins and I survived and …"

"Twins!"

"Yes, twins," the lovely woman said with a curve of her lips. "I presume you know now that Leia is our daughter, but this is our son, Luke Skywalker."

"It is unwise to talk extensively with Palpatine," Vader said coldly, his eyes focused on his (former) master. "He has a poisonous tongue and a remarkable ability to sway people to his way of thinking. We must be done with him."

"Do you have what you need, Kenobi?" Padme asked.

"Yes," Obi-Wan said gravely, lifting the small device in his hand. "I have his retinal scan and we have his fingerprints from his dismembered hands. Once he's dead, I'll take a blood sample."

"Very well," Darth Vader replied, "turn on the holocam, Luke."

Luke Skywalker nodded with determination and took a few steps back even as he used the Force to lift a holocam from a small backpack.

"I'm ready, Father."

/-

_Imperial Holonet Station_

_Imperial City_

_Imperial Center_

"So you believe that Marrovian pigs will be the latest exotic pet?" Relinka Spetzv asked with a toss of her aquamarine hair.

"Yes, indeed," trendsetting starlet Quianna Jane said with a wide smile of her blue painted lips. "They are so cute with their oinking and their grunting! And they can even be house trained!"

Relinka responded with a wide smile and an internal cringe. It wasn't appropriate to talk about animal droppings, even peripherally, on the Imperial Holonet's most widely watched daily talk show.

"Well, that is indeed wonderful," Relinka gushed, then broke off with a frown that caused minute wrinkles in her flawless make-up. "Humans, aliens, sentients of all kinds, I have just received word that Emperor Palpatine has an immediate announcement from the Imperial Palace. We urge everyone to stop what you are doing and watch!"

"Take it away, Cray," she muttered into her mouthpiece.

A moment later, the viewscreen shifted from the vivacious Quianna Jane to Lord Darth Vader, who stood tall and regal and scary in the familiar Imperial Throne Room.

"Uh, Lord Vader!" Cray Shifton, the most famous male Holonet host said from Imperial Holonet Studio #4, "this is an honor. We understand that Emperor Palpatine has an announcement?"

"That is incorrect," the deep bass voice stated coldly. "_I _have an announcement. I have overthrown the Emperor and now …"

The holocam shifted position to show the armless, legless form of a floating Emperor Palpatine, whose face was white with terror. He was, indeed, babbling something in an ancient language which caused tremors of horror to crawl up and down the spines of those individuals who were sober.

"Death to the Emperor!" Vader snarled, and plunged his ruby red lightsaber into Palpatine's torso. "Death to the tyrant! Long live Empress Padme!"

The holocam shifted again to show the face and form of a beautiful, middle aged woman, dressed in a green robe, with dark hair flowing down her back, with brown eyes and a regal air.

"What?" Padme demanded in astonishment.

_/-_

_Author Note; "It's just a flesh wound!" Anyone, anyone? One more chapter I think._


	3. Chapter 3

_Darth Vader's private quarters_

_Darth Vader's Palace_

_Imperial City_

_Imperial Center_

_One hour later_

"Honestly, Anakin!" Padme cried out indignantly. "How could you do such a thing? I believe in democracy, not an autocratic Empire."

"So transform the Empire into a democratic monarchy, like Naboo," Vader replied with a shrug. "Whatever you want, my love. At the moment we need a smooth transition of power from Palpatine to someone, and that someone must be you."

"Because …?" she replied with an irritated shake of her head.

"Because you are strong and brave and wise and intelligent, the greatest politician of your generation. I have no stomach for the machinations of the government and I'm too large and menacing to negotiate appropriately with the factions which will struggle for power now that Palpatine is dead."

The former queen rolled her eyes, "It's not that hard, Anakin."

"It _is _that hard," the cyborg replied. "My idea of negotiation is to loom ominously and threaten the other party with death and/or dismemberment. I assume you do not think that is the proper way to run a government."

Padme placed her hands on her hips and glared at her husband, then let out a sigh and transferred her attention to her son, who was standing a meter away.

"He's not wrong, Mom," Luke said mildly. "You are a brilliant politician and Father is not. There's a vacuum at the seat of power, and everyone and his half cousin once removed will by vying for a place in the new government. When I killed Jabba the Hutt a couple of years ago, the resultant loss of leadership resulted in total chaos on Tatooine, though the situation has stabilized …"

"You killed Jabba the Hutt?" Vader interrupted in astonishment. "I read the official report that his sail barge crashed and he was knocked into the Sarlacc Pit!"

"That was me," his son said cheerfully. "His henchmen were demanding more and more water taxes so I did a little creative mechanical tinkering and managed to crash the sail barge and toss him to the Sarlacc. I'm sure it was very happy!"

"I am certain you are correct," Vader replied, gazing at his son with respect. The boy had an open and honest farmboy face, but was obviously capable of subtlety and sabotage.

Padme turned her attention on Leia, who was seated on a black krayt leather couch and eating a dweezel stick.

"Leia, your thoughts?"

The girl finished chewing and swallowing, then nodded thoughtfully, "I believe it could work, Mother. Alderaan is a monarchy but a democracy. A transition to democracy will take time, but certainly the process will go more smoothly if a two meter cyborg isn't out there strangling people to death every time they raise an objection to something. I do think we need to get your message out as quickly as possible. Vader made the dramatic announcement that you are Empress and then cut the holofeed. You need to talk to the galaxy and give them some ideas of your plans."

Padme passed a weary hand over her face and then sighed, "Very well. Leia, Luke, Anakin, let's come up with some initial strategies."

/-

_Secret Studio_

_Imperial Center_

_12 hours later_

Relinka Spetzv smiled mechanically and nervously at the holocam. She _so_ didn't want to be here. She had toned down her look by dying her hair brown, and her dress was a subdued gray. And she was scared stiff.

"Good evening, sentients across the many worlds. I have here with me the Empress of the galaxy, Padme."

Relinka turned and bared her teeth in she hoped was a welcoming way at the lovely woman seated across from her. The mysterious Padme's dark hair was piled high in a bun and she wore a robe of soft green.

"Empress Padme, it is truly an honor to be here with you."

"The honor is mine, Host Spetzv," the woman replied with a genuine smile. "Thank you for being willing to meet with me and Lord Vader on such short notice."

Lord Vader. Spetzv shot an anxious glance at the looming behemoth who stood to the right side of the middle aged beauty. Vader was absolutely, bona fide, terrifying. Relinka had limited her dinner to only a few slices of Coruscanti bread, but she still felt like she might upchuck at any moment.

"Welcome, Lord Vader," she replied, glancing briefly at the Sith before turning back to the much friendlier looking woman. "Empress Padme, would you care to begin this interview with an introductory statement?"

"Thank you, yes," Padme replied, turning slightly to face the holocam with practiced ease. "Sentients of the galaxy, I appreciate that the last day has been a confusing and challenging time. I wish to introduce myself to the myriad peoples who are unaware of my identity. I was born Padme Naberrie on the beautiful planet of Naboo and I entered politics as a young teen under the name Padme Amidala. I was elected Queen of Naboo when I was but 14 years of age, and was elected Senator of Naboo a few years later and served in the Republic Senate for many years. I ran afoul of Sheev about 19 years ago, and …"

"Sheev?" Relinka blurted out in bewilderment.

"Palpatine," Padme explained with a wave of one slender hand. "Such a manipulative rancor, that man. To my profound regret, I paved the way for his appointment to Chancellor of the old Republic by calling for a no confidence vote for the former Chancellor Valorum. After considerable manipulation, Sheev managed to crown himself Emperor, but since he was naturally cranky about my commitment to democracy, he tried to have me killed. It took a great deal of time to move against him, and I never could have done it without Ani - without Lord Vader."

Relinka blinked her (currently green) eyes in bewilderment. Ani?

"Er, so, um, so when did you first, uh, begin working with Lord Vader?" she asked nervously.

The Empress's face softened and she shifted her position to gaze fondly at the hulking, heavily breathing Dark Lord of the Sith.

"He was 9 years old when I met him," she said with a glowing smile. "He was so cute."

Spetzv choked and strangled a cough. Cute?

"I wasn't cute," Vader replied with a shift of his giant body which might have been from embarrassment.

"You were absolutely adorable," Padme replied firmly. "Those blue eyes, those flaxen locks, that sweet little voice."

"I wasn't …" he began, his shoulders hunched as if to ward off the woman's shocking words.

"I'm sorry," Padme continued with a shake of her head. "I got off track. I merely wished to assure everyone that while I will indeed be crowned Empress in the next month, I have every intention of transitioning the Empire into a democracy."

Relinka's mouth hung open in earnest now.

"A democracy, Empress Padme?" The woman asked weakly. "Surely that, er, surely that won't work. People are …"

She trailed off and pulled herself together. Democracy was disdained in the Empire. People were too stupid to govern themselves.

Relinka opened her mouth and closed it again.

"Please ask whatever you want," Padme urged gently.

"Are you concerned that many will oppose your ascension to the throne, Empress?" Relinka asked shakily even as she resolutely avoided looking at Vader.

"I am sure many will," Padme agreed. "but we will manage, because …"

"Because," Vader stated, interrupting the woman without compunction, "because while we are open to courteous discussion and disagreement, we will have no mercy on those who seek to use violence against the Empress. Anyone who so much as touches a hair on her head will be killed, by me, personally and painfully. Any government which plots against her will find its planet razed, its atmosphere destroyed by fire, its …"

"No, Ani, they will not!" the Empress stated with a snarl, rising to her feet and taking an agitated step toward Vader. "We agreed, no threats."

"We _discussed_ it, Padme, but we did not agree. I will not stand by and let you be harmed …"

"Threatening people and planets is hardly …," she began, then shot an uneasy look at Relinka.

"I'm sorry, Host Spetzv. I believe Lord Vader and I need to have a little talk. Luke, perhaps you can talk with this lovely young lady for a few minutes?"

Relinka shot a bewildered look around, just as the slight young man standing nervously near the door jerked in surprise and apparent dismay.

Padme shot the youth an affectionate smile and grabbed Vader's cyborg arm and hauled the giant into a nearby room.

Relinka glanced at her holo feed and observed that the holocam tech had turned the cams on the boy. Relinka shook her head slightly to clear it. This was truly like no other interview she'd ever conducted. Her subject had walked off to argue (vociferously, based on the sounds emanating from the nearby room) with Darth Vader himself, and she was left was some random youth.

She briefly examined the young man. He was indeed young, she decided, probably not more than 20 standard years. He looked thoroughly unnerved and was dressed in a boring tan outfit. Probably an aide of some kind? If so, he looked incompetent. But aides often were, as they were related to someone important somewhere ...

Relinka gestured indifferently to the couch and the youth, looking rather like an unhappy bantha approaching a slaughterhouse, stepped forward and lowered himself down onto the seat. She'd natter with this young man while keeping a close ear on the proceedings next door. She just hoped there wouldn't be violence between the beautiful Empress and the crazy Sith.

"So, uh, Luke," Spetzv said with a distracted smile, "I presume you are one of the Empress's aides?"

The boy blinked in surprise and shook his head, "Oh no, not an aide. Um, well, Padme is my mother."

Relinka's eyes turned to the boy with the enthusiasm of a colo claw fish who had spied a particularly succulent Nubian sea snake, "You are the Empress's son?!"

"Um, yeah. I was actually born a couple of days after the Empire was formed, which is kind of funny because Mom just loathes the Empire and she's been working for years to take it down."

Relinka hardly heard this. She had thought the young man dull on first glance but now she noted that while he was rather short and slight, he had brilliant blue eyes, a charming cleft in his chin, and a handsome face.

"You are the heir to the Empire?!" she exclaimed in astonishment and delight.

A look of horror crosssed Luke's face, "No no no, definitely not! There won't be an heir. I mean, Mom wants a democracy, so the next leader will be elected! And I'm no politician! I'm no good at that kind of thing."

Relinka smiled toothily, "And what are you good at, Prince Luke."

"I'm not a …," Luke began, then sighed. "I'm an excellent pilot, Host Spetzv."

"Please call me Relinka," she replied, turning on her hyperdrive charm. "That's wonderful! A pilot! So is your outfit the kind of thing you wear in the cockpit, Prince Luke?"

Luke looked down at his clothes in bewilderment, "This, uh no. I mean, they are just comfortable so I wear them. I don't …"

"Well, I'm sure bland tan will be the latest Imperial City rage after today," she responded brightly.

Luke's eyes widened in horror, "Um, really, er, _Mom_!"

Relinka turned to observe that the Empress had returned with Vader in tow.

"Your Highness," the host said enthusiastically. "I was just chatting with your son."

"My dear Luke," Padme replied, slipping onto the couch next to Luke and placing a comforting arm around her clearly shaken offspring. "He is such a gift. But to get back to our topic, I assure you that Lord Vader will not be raining down devastation on any planet because they don't agree with my suggestions for the galaxy. We've agreed, haven't we?"

This was said in a minatory tone and Vader nodded his great mask but said nothing more.

Relinka was no longer interested in death and destruction.

"Your Highness, I do hope this isn't an awkward question and if so, of course you can choose not to answer. Does your wonderful son have a father anywhere?"

Padme stared at her for a long moment, glanced at Luke, glanced at Vader, and decided now was the time.

"Certainly. Darth Vader is my husband and Luke's father."

/-

_Holotransmission Room_

_Devastator_

_In orbit around Imperial Center_

_1 day later_

"Really, Padme, Darth Vader?" Mon Mothma inquired irritably, her eyebrows raised. "Your _husband_? Your son's _father?_ Who is going to believe that?"

Padme gazed through the holoscreen at her old friend and sat back with a sigh, "I'm sure you remember Anakin Skywalker, Mon."

The Chandrilan Senator stared without blinking for a full 30 seconds, her face slack with incredulity.

"No. No no no no no no no …"

"Yes," Padme said firmly.

"No. Anakin Skywalker, the Hero With No Fear, did not become …"

"Yes, he did."

"Darth Vader," Mon Mothma finished. "That is totally ridiculous."

Padme brushed her hair back with one hand and glanced briefly at the metallic panel next to the holoscreen. It reflected her weary face and slightly greasy hair. She had not slept since Anakin had made his insane announcement on the live Holonet, and she really needed a sonic shower and sleep, in that order.

"Mon, I'm totally exhausted," she said flatly. "Yes, I married Anakin at the beginning of the Clone Wars. Yes, Luke Skywalker is our son. Yes, Anakin turned to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader. Yes, Vader killed Palpatine to protect me and Luke, and then made that nutty announcement without my prior knowledge. I've decided to move forward as Empress because Anakin won't go for anything else, but I assure you my goal is a democracy as quickly as possible. Can we work together on this?"

Mon Mothma still looked ashen but she nodded slowly, "Yes, Padme, of course we can work together."

/-

_Author Note: __Thanks to all of you reviewing and following this fanfic. _


	4. Chapter 4

_Unknown Dilapidated Room_

_Imperial City_

_Imperial Center_

_3 weeks later_

"Ergh," Luke Skywalker mumbled.

"Mrffhilkmsshhh," he continued.

"Yarp," he finished.

"You gave him too much," he heard an angry male voice say loudly.

He winced. Too loud, too too loud.

"I gave him exactly the right amount, Grand Inquisitor," a vaguely familiar feminine voice responded.

Luke pried his eyes open with difficult and raised his lolling head. He was seated and his hands and legs were bound to the solid arms and legs of the chair. In front of him, seated on another seat, was a fuzzy figure. Luke peered at her carefully and the image crystallized. Slightly.

"Pretty," Luke commented, and giggled slightly.

"What did he say?" the angry voice inquired.

"Pretty," the woman stated. "He must have been more strongly affected by the drug than a normal individual or it interacted with the alcohol negatively."

"Pretty red hair. Pretty pretty red," Luke said clearly. "Not bland tan. Bland tan. Bland bland tan tan …"

There was a hard slap on his cheek and he frowned with indignation, "That hurt!"

"You'll hurt more before we're done with you," the woman hissed. Her face was coming into focus now, and Luke recognized his drinking partner from the _Cavorting Slork,_ except that last night her hair had been bland tan.

"I like you better without your boring wig," he managed to say clearly.

The woman (girl really – she looked about his age) frowned in irritation.

"You clearly are not taking this situation seriously enough, Skywalker," she snarled.

"Indeed," the male voice agreed in what could only be called an ominous tone. The girl rose to her feet and stepped to one side, and a tall, humanoid alien with a bald, pale head with red markings sat down, his face cold with, what, hatred?

"I don't know why you're so crabby," Luke said resentfully. "Palpatine was a jerk."

Another slap, this one harder, from the tall cadaverous individual.

"So you recognize me?" he demanded.

"Grand, grand, grand, grand Inquisitor," Luke mumbled. "Grand Inquisitor. Palpatine treated you like bantha poodoo, you know."

"Your father was the one who took off my left ear," the Inquisitor stated with rigid fury.

Luke's eyes widened in distress, "Did he? That is awful. He really is an awful person in so many ways. I mean, yeah, he's my father and all, but he's man more than … no, that's not right. Machine more than man. Twisted and evil. And mean. Mean mean mean. Kashyyyk makes me sick. All those poor Wookiees …"

"They rebelled against the Empire," the girl stated angrily. "They got what they deserved."

Luke stared into her inarguably lovely face and began laughing hysterically, "Rebelled? Deserved? That's … that's hilarious. Yeah, right. Rebelled. Ha. Didn't happen. The Empire saw them as cheap labor and went in and ravaged the planet and its people. I spent years on Tatooine and I know about slavery. People always start out by saying the other sentients deserve it. Palpatine was just a selfish, egocentric slave trader, just like Jabba and his minions, 'cept Sidious was strong in the Force, so he caused more agony and destruction …"

Another slap and the young man groaned and closed his eyes, "I'm tired."

The door slid open before there could be more slapping, and the young Skywalker pried open a cautious eye. The woman who stepped in was most notable for her odd eyes, one red and one blue.

The tall woman strode over and stared down at the captive youth, "Has he talked yet?"

"He's talked quite a bit, Director," the red haired girl stated, her green eyes narrow with anger and a bit of confusion. "None of it has been particularly helpful."

"I'm not helpin' you," Luke slurred.

"He's drunk," Isard snapped. "You shouldn't have let him drink so much, Jade."

"He didn't drink much," Mara Jade stated indignantly. "Two drinks. I slipped the drugs into the second one. He just must be one of those weaklings strongly affected by cyclotrine. The Grand Inquisitor also injected him with truth drugs and perhaps they are affecting him."

Isard stared at her for a long moment, then at the Inquisitor, then at Skywalker. She leaned forward and seized a shock of his longish blond hair, "Where is Amidala, Skywalker?"

Luke stared up at her blearily and managed to shift his head slightly, "You have weird eyes, Isard."

The grip tightened and he groaned with discomfort.

"Amidala, where is she?" the Director of Imperial Intelligence demanded harshly.

"Vader's palace, of course," Luke replied resentfully. "Or maybe on _Devastator._ I dunno. I'm not a poli … politician. I'm her kid, not her keeper. I'm just a pilot. Don't know why you're bothering me …"

Isard leaned back and smiled thinly, "Did you really imagine you could traipse off into Coco Town and drink with a random floozie without consequences, Skywalker? With you as hostage, Amidala will be forced to accede to our demands and place herself in danger. We will kill her in due time. Not that we intend to let Vader's spawn live. You will also die, _extremely _unpleasantly, once we have …"

The door to the room abruptly burst open with a tremendous crash, just as Luke calmly divested himself of his bonds and used the Force to throw Isard (relatively gently) across the room, where she thudded into a wall and slid down to the floor ignominiously.

"Luke!" Leia shouted, throwing his lightsaber in his direction. It lit even as he called it to his hand, and he turned in time to block the Grand Inquisitor's red double bladed lightsaber which had sprung to life.

Leia found herself in close battle with Mara Jade, who wielded her purple lightsaber with ferocious determination but relatively little skill. The princess of Alderaan pressed close, eager to take off the woman's head so that she could come to her brother's aid …

"_Don't kill her!"_ she heard Luke's voice in her head.

Leia growled in frustration but obediently fell back a bit, gave the woman a Force push, and took off Jade's right arm below the elbow with her blue blade.

Mara screamed in pain and fell, clutching the stump, even as Leia spun around, waited for Luke to force his adversary close to her, and poked her lightsaber blade through the Inquisitor's back. He fell, smoking and stinking, to the floor.

"Luke, are you all right?" Leia asked worriedly as she shut down her lightsaber. "You were so quiet in the Force!"

"I'm fine, Leia," Luke replied, turning off his own lightsaber and giving her a reassuring hug. "I got drugged with something which made me a bit odd and it took a while for me to clear it from my system. But obviously you tracked me down."

"Of course I did," Leia replied, glancing at the door as Biggs Darklighter strode through with a techinician and a medic in his wake. "You're my twin brother. I always know where you are."

"What!?" Mara gasped, tottering to her feet, her disbelief slightly diminishing the agony of her arm.

"Biggs, it's great to see you!" Luke said enthusiastically. He slapped Darklighter hard on the back, then glanced at Mara as she emitted a reluctant groan of pain. The youth's eyes widened.

You chopped her arm off, Leia?" Luke demanded indignantly. "That was kind of mean! Medic, can you please help her?"

"Yes, sir."

"She was trying to kill me, and you needed help with the Grand Inquisitor," his sister replied irascibly. "What's the concern about her anyway? She's an Emperor's Hand, isn't she?"

"_The_ Emperor's Hand," Mara snarled angrily even as a medic carefully injected a numbing agent into her stubby right arm. "I am the_ only_ Hand, the favored servant of the Emperor. And you betrayed and murdered him!"

Leia probed the red haired girl with the Force carefully and turned to her brother.

"Poor thing," she replied, her face compassionate. "I see the issue, Luke."

"I am not … a poor thing," Mara sputtered in outrage, her energy levels increasing as the agony disappeared, leaving behind a glorious numbness.

"Organa," Ysanne Isard croaked.

The woman had regained consciousness after being thrown into the wall and now she stumbled carefully to her feet, disdainfully ignoring the blaster in Biggs Darklighter's hand.

"Princess Leia," she stated, lifting her head and struggling to pull herself together. "This is truly a surprise. I had no idea you are working with _Darth Vader_."

"We're kind of working against him, Isard," Luke said cheerfully, stepping forward to place manacles on the Imperial Security Director's hands. "Truth is, Vader's on your trail too so we went with the whole '_stupid farmboy wanders off to Coco Town and gets drunk and captured'_ trope so that we could get to you first."

"It was a set up?" Mara gasped in extreme embarrassment.

Luke shot her a patient look, "Jade, you can't shield to save your life. I knew you were a poorly trained Force Sensitive the moment you sat down at the bar and batted your eyelashes at me. I'm not that stupid."

"I didn't realize that you were trained …," she mumbled in embarrassment, then glanced at her right arm. She. Was. Missing. Her. Right. Hand. She'd lost her master, her hand, her freedom, and now her sense of superiority. What an awful day.

"Cheer up, Jade," Leia said sympathetically. "The whole reason we put Luke in danger was, as he said earlier, we wanted to get to Isard's network before Vader did. I've been through an interrogation at his hands and it was no fun. Since you are working on assassinating Mother, he's liable to be …"

"We have no intention of assassinating Queen Breha," Isard interrupted hastily. "I don't know where you got that idea."

"I guess you were unconscious at the moment I mentioned that Luke Skywalker and I are twins?" Leia inquired. "Padme Amidala is our biological mother, and Vader is our father."

Isard's mouth drooped open incredulously and her eyes widened so much that Leia wondered if her eyes would pop out of her head.

"Vader is, is …" she stuttered.

"Biological father," Leia replied matter of factly. "Yes. An interrogation at his hands will, I assure you, be supremely unpleasant and very bad for you. And him, for that matter. It'll rile him all up, which is unhealthy for the galaxy in general. He loves Mother dearly but he is more machine now than man, twisted and evil."

"I already said that once today," Luke said smugly. "So I'm still ahead."

"I said it to Biggs an hour ago," Leia snarked back.

"Biggs?"

"Yep, Luke, she did. What is this, some kind of weird silly twin competition?"

"Yes," Wedge Antilles commented, walking in the door. "It is. The twins are odd sometimes."

"Hey!" Luke and Leia said indignantly.

"Princess Leia, Luke," Wedge said with a comical bow, "Solo has the _Millennium Falcon_ on the roof ready for the prisoners. I suggest you get moving because Vader might show up at any time and I don't want to be responsible for cleaning up the mess if …"

"Yeah, you're right," Luke said hurriedly.

He glanced at the tech, who had been working away on 'puter in the corner of the room, "How is it going?"

The technician was generating subdued technological excitement through the Force, "It's going very well, sir. With Isard's retina scan, we have full access to the files of the plot against the Empress."

"Ok, sounds good," Luke said sunnily. "Leia, are you Ok with me taking the prisoners up to the _Liberty Sun_? Mother has made all the Mon Calamari ships a no Imperial zone for now, so Isard and Jade and associates will be safe from Father there."

"So basically you're leaving me to deal with Vader," his twin growled at him. 

"Leia," Luke said with a smirk. "He did torture you on the Death Star. He feels guilty. Plus you look like Mother, and have her political acumen. You can manage him better than I can."

Leia groaned and sighed, "Ok, fine."

/-

_Padme's Office_

_Vader's Palace_

_Imperial City_

_Imperial Center_

_3 hours later_

"This is amazing stuff, Solo," Leia said, her eyes shut, her expression blissful.

"I must say, you've got a surprisingly egalitarian palate for a spoiled princess," Han said, popping a piece of pepper flavored battered bantha jerky into his mouth.

"My father Bail adores Bellassan peppers," she said with a grin. "The hotter the better. By the way, thanks for taking the prisoners up to the _Liberty Sun_."

"Hey, I'll do almost anything for credits, Princess," Solo drawled.

"This intel is excellent, Leia," Padme commented, lifting her eyes from her holopad. "I am concerned that if Ani sees it, he may get a little bit upset. So perhaps it would be best if we filtered the data before sharing it with him."

"You'd better filter away, Mother," Leia said, rolling to her feet and brushing crumbs off her white robe. "He'll be here in …"

The door slid open and Darth Vader stalked in, his posture and Force sense screaming agitation.

"Where is Luke?" he demanded harshly.

Leia narrowed her eyes and cocked her head, "He's in orbit around the planet on a Mon Calamari ship. You should be able to tell that, Lord Vader."

"I received a report from one of my aides that he had been captured by insurgents," her biological father replied, his tone shifting from concerned to displeased. "I am nettled that such a report was made without the correct facts."

Leia sighed. She couldn't let the hapless aide suffer.

"Luke_ was_ captured," she explained patiently, "but it was intentional. We allowed him to be abducted in order to collect needed intel about those who oppose Mother within the existing Imperial hierarchy."

"You. Did. What?" Vader demanded incredulously.

Leia turned her 1000 energy cell glare on the hulking Sith Lord and raised an imperious eyebrow, "Luke wandered off to Coco Town and deliberately got himself drugged and abducted by an Emperor's Hand named Jade. I followed his Force signature to a dilapidated warehouse on the east side of Imperial City and we took out the Grand Inquisitor and captured Ysanne Isard and Jade."

"Jade," Vader rumbled ominously. "I will speak with her."

Leia reached over and grabbed a bite of Corellian licorice from a bowl next to Padme.

"This is great stuff, Mother," she told Padme, who was staring intently at a holopad. "You should try it."

"I already have," her mother said with a grin. "You're right, it's amazing."

"Can I have some?" Solo asked boldly.

"By all means," Leia said cheerily.

"Where is Jade?' Vader demanded, taking a step closer.

She looked up at him with durasteel in her gaze, "The prisoners are on a Mon Calamari ship in orbit. Mother has made those ships off limits to Imperials in general and you in particular."

The Sith stared incredulously, then turned his attention on his wife, "Padme, we must obtain information on the plot against you!"

"A lot of it is on this holopad," Padme said with a smile in his direction. "The techs got all kinds of goodies from Isard's 'puter. As for Jade and Isard, I agree with the twins. Torture is evil."

"I need to protect you!" he claimed indignantly. "Do you think the Rebels can convince Isard and Jade to talk? I insist on being a part of their interrogation!"

Leia huffed and glared at her biological sire, "Lord Vader, I would like to point out that talking about torture, even in a veiled way, isn't very diplomatic of you given that you were busy mind probing me less than a month ago …"

The cyborg flinched openly, "I'm sorry, Princess Leia."

"Secondly," she continued firmly, "you are underestimating Luke. That open, honest face conceals a truly remarkable ability to ferret out useful information. Give him a chance."

/-

_Interrogation Cell #15_

_The Liberty Sun_

_In orbit around Imperial Center_

The door slid open and Mara Jade stiffened in anger and fear. The individual walking through the door was the last person she wanted to see.

Besides Darth Vader. Vader would have been worse.

"What do you want, Skywalker?" she demanded harshly. "I'm not telling you anything."

Luke gazed compassionately at the woman, still without her right hand, and walked over to sit across the table from the angry, fearful, resentful, outraged redhead.

"Would you like a Wookiee Cookie?" he asked gently, placing a glass of water and bowl of cookies in front of his prisoner.

She glared for a long moment, then reached over with her left hand and popped a cookie in her mouth.

She loved Wookiee Cookies.

/-

_Author Note: An epilogue after this and then I'm done. Really. I am. Thanks again for those of you liking and reviewing. Muchas gracias!_


	5. Epilogue

_Author Note: I don't think that the previous chapter showed up on fanfiction correctly, so you might want to make sure you've already read chapter 4 before reading the Epilogue_

_Wooden Tree House_

_High in a Wroshyr Tree_

_Longitude: 135 degrees_

_Latitude: 15 degrees south of the Equator_

_Kashyyyk_

_5 years later_

In the early dawn the gigantic, enormous, behemoth of the wroshyr tree swayed in the morning breezes and Mara Jade Skywalker swayed with it.

It was still early and she didn't want to open her eyes yet, so she didn't. It was … not quiet, exactly. Not in an auditory sense. There were soft creaks of the tree, the whisper of fluttering leaves, the cries of stately owls as they made their way to their dens for the day.

The soft breathing of her companion.

But emotionally, spiritually, it was silent. She, and he, had been pushing so hard for so long. Here on Kashyyyk, surrounded by her people, she felt at peace, relaxed.

Safe.

Mara smiled and opened her eyes. Facing her, his mouth hanging open slightly, his respirations steady, lay her beloved husband, Luke Skywalker.

_Prince_ Luke Skywalker, if a sentient listened to the holonet, and most people did. He hated that. _Loathed_ it.

Her smile faded as she noted the dark circles under Luke's eyes. She had been less in the public eye the last 6 months and had gotten far more rest. He had been carrying tremendous loads on behalf of a galaxy which, while it appreciated him, did not truly understand him.

She would let him sleep.

Awkwardly, Mara managed to roll off the bed hanging from the ceiling using the Force (the Wookiees made the most comfortable, amazing hanging beds in the galaxy) and onto the floor. Quietly, she stepped into an adjacent refresher for her morning ablutions, then walked into the small living/kitchen area.

Ten minutes later, Mara was perched on a comfortable oro wood couch with krayt dragon leather cushions, with her caf on a nearby table, her favorite holopad in her hand, and Relinka Spetzv rambling away on the holoscreen on the wall about various topics which were of no interest to Mara.

Bliss.

Twenty minutes later, a small part of her brain discussed auditory input with the conscious part of her brain and she looked back up at the holoscreen. Relinka was smiling in her toothy way and across from her was …

No.

"Sentients of all species, it is my honor and pleasure to introduce the Emperor and Empress of the galaxy, Padme Skywalker and Darth Vader!"

Mara stretched out through the Force and a dark chocolate protein bar leaped into her prosthetic right hand. She quickly removed the wrapper and started chewing even as she focused enthusiastically on her in-laws.

This was going to be good.

"Your Highnesses, it is a delight to have you here," Relinka Spetzv said in a clearly pleased tone.

Mara snorted in amusement. It just showed how much Darth Vader had mellowed that Spetzv could get those words out and not only sound authentic but perhaps actually be authentic.

"It's our pleasure," Padme said with her usual awesomely charming smile.

"It is good to be here," Vader chimed in gamely, even as he attempted a smile of his own.

Mara wrinkled her brow thoughtfully. It wasn't a great smile, but it was something. Maybe a smirk?

It was still weird seeing the man's face after almost two decades of the cold, black mask. But the Empress and Luke, and even Princess Leia, had been on Vader's case for years about his health and had bullied and cajoled him into undergoing lots of necessary medical treatment.

His face was still quite scarred, but he looked human and he had quite gorgeous blue eyes.

Eyes like Luke's …

Mara sighed in a lovelorn way that would have made her vomit five years ago. Now she just embraced it.

"Your Highnesses," Relinka continued, waving her rainbow hued locks, "I understand that last night you and your family attended the world premiere of _Raised By Wookiees, the Mara Jade story _…"

"What is with her hair?" Luke asked, slipping down onto the couch next to Mara. "Is it moving?"

His wife leaned over to rest her head on his torso and grinned, "I think she's got some new method of making the individual strands change color every five seconds. Neat, huh?"

"I prefer red hair," Luke murmured back.

They engaged in some non-gratuitous kissing and then tuned in to the holocast again.

"So, Emperor Vader, what did you think of the performance of Quianna Jane in the biopic about your daughter-in-law? Do you think that Jane successfully captured the essence of your son's wife, Mara Jade Skywalker?"

Vader blinked, blinked again, and shot a horrified glance at his wife.

"I believe Quianna did an excellent job," Padme replied smoothly. "Obviously Mara's story has its share of tragedy, but I appreciated the infusion of humor at appropriate moments."

"The actress was not adequate in the lightsaber duels," Vader stated suddenly. "It is obvious that her flexibility is insufficient for Form IV fighting. My daughter-in-law is an expert as she has trained under both me and my son, or at least she is an expert when she isn't as big as a pregnant bantha."

Relinka's mouth drooped open and she glanced in bewilderment at the Empress.

"That is not a reflection on Quianna Jane, of course," Padme stated smoothly. "Quianna is an excellent actress but not a Force sensitive …"

"They should have found an appropriate stunt double," the Emperor replied in a clearly grouchy tone. "It is important to adequately convey the proper forms …"

"Perhaps if there is a sequel, your very own daughter-in-law could fill in as a stunt double," Relinka exclaimed cheerily. "That would be awesome."

"It would be far better than exposing the masses to that pathetic excuse of …" Vader continued sternly, only to stop when Padme leaned over and placed a firm hand on his arm.

"Stop?" the Emperor asked meekly.

"Yes, darling, stop," Padme replied with a loving smile.

She turned back to Spetzv and chuckled, "I suspect Mara would find it amusing, but she'll be far too busy raising babies to participate in holodocumentaries the next couple of years."

"The galaxy is, of course, absolutely delighted that Prince Luke and Princess Mara will soon be blessed with twins," Relinka gushed. "We are all curious, too, as to the genders of the twins."

"No one knows for sure," Padme said with a smile, "including our son and daughter-in-law. But I think she's carrying two girls."

"I disagree," Vader argued. "Two boys."

"Two girls," the Empress replied, lifting her eyebrows.

"The power of the Force shows me that the children are male."

"You thought I was carrying one child and that it was a girl."

"I was at least correct about the girl. Princess Leia is everything I ever imagined, my love, with your political acuity and gorgeous looks …"

"And I was correct about the boy. Luke has your looks and your blue eyes, if not your height …"

"I am not the man I once was," Vader replied, his scarred forehead creasing sadly.

"You will always be my Ani," Padme replied, slipping over and seating herself onto her husband's lap. "You will always be my love."

"My angel…"

Padme leaned in and began kissing her husband passionately on the _live holonet_, even as Luke began giggling madly next to Mara.

"I can't even, I can't even …," he began.

"Your parents are hilarious!" Mara replied, even as Relinka Spetzv, her eyes as wide as hover saucers, gazed into the holocam and stated rather shakily, "We will now go to a commercial break."

The holoscreen changed to a Dex's Diner commercial and Luke, with a wave of his hand, turned it off.

"They are crazy," he agreed, leaning over to kiss Mara's red hair. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Bulbous," his wife replied as a Wookiee Cookie cavorted through the air and into her hand. "And hungry."

"You look beautiful," he replied as she took a big bite. "Do you want to go out on the deck?"

"Please," she agreed, lurching to her feet and walking out to the deck with the cookie in her hand.

Her husband joined her a few minutes later with two cups of blue milk, and both stared out over the waist high railing into the surrounding wroshyr trees.

"It's so restful here," Mara murmured.

"Tranquil," Luke agreed.

"Soothing."

"Private."

"I love it," the red haired former Hand sighed. "I'm so glad that you realized through my passionate love of Wookiee Cookies that I was raised here on Kashyyyk."

Luke nodded and gestured surreptitiously with his hand, causing the remains of his wife's cookie to float out of her loose grip and into his mouth.

"Hey!" Mara yelped with false indignation.

"Hey indeed," the Jedi said with a grin. "I think I like the chocolate ones the best."

"Me too."

"The Wookiees have been so welcoming," Luke continued softly. "They are such forgiving people considering what the Empire in general, and Father in particular, did to them."

"I'd say that interview was its own form of penance," Mara said thoughtfully, her left hand caressing her incredibly large belly. "The news that I was orphaned and raised by Wookiees until the Empire snatched me as a child has definitely improved the tourist trade here on Kashyyyk, but it is your father's decision to have his current cloak made out of wroshyr bark which has really helped the small scale economies around the planet. Wroshyr bark clothing is the rage. Even Ransome Quilttraz is making a whole line out of wroshyr bark."

"I actually quite like that cloak," Luke said, "and I agree that he is doing what he can in his own kind of, uh, awkward way."

"Better awkward than murderous," Mara pointed out. "I actually quite like your father these days."

"So do I," Luke agreed, and pulled his wife close to him. "So do I."

Mara rested blissfully in his embrace for 30 seconds, then suddenly stiffened.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked worriedly.

Mara clenched her fists and her teeth for another 30 seconds, then relaxed.

"Just a contraction," she replied. "But stronger than usual."

/-

_Yoda's Hut_

_Dagobah_

_12 hours later_

"Not know why training you I am," Master Yoda stated irritably. "Attachment. Passion. Marriage. Wrong it all is."

"Master Yoda," Leia Organa Solo replied calmly, her face serene, "it is true that times have changed but the basic tenets of the Jedi Order still hold true. We seek the best for the many peoples of the galaxy. We seek to serve others, to have compassion on them, and yes, to love them when that is appropriate. I would say that we are not turning from the Jedi Way, but instead adjusting appropriately to the current needs of the galaxy in general and Force Sensitives in particular."

Han Solo groaned softly and leaned back wearily against the rounded wall of the hut. How many times, _how many times_, was the old troll going to say the same things to his wife? It would end as it always did. Yoda and Leia would talk around each other for a while, and Leia would prevail as she always did, and Yoda would teach her what she wanted to know.

Leia said it was all part of diplomacy and courtesy and patience and Han could kind of understand it – old sentients got weird sometimes – but it was dull. And it wasn't like he could just go off and climb a tree for fun. There were nasty snakes around here ready either to bite him or make a meal of him.

"Eating my stew you are not," Master Yoda suddenly stated, turning his baleful eyes on the Corellian captain. "Not like it, do you?"

Han looked down gloomily at his bowl of untouched stew. Every time they came here it was the same. Leia said it was no doubt part of Yoda's mysterious unknown culture to offer root stew but the stuff was disgusting.

Han glanced at Leia, who wore a pleading look, then reluctantly spooned a bite of the stew into his mouth.

Using every iota of will power, he managed to suppress a scream of anguish. It was even more revolting than usual.

He opened his mouth to say something polite, then decided on honesty.

"No, Master Yoda. I don't like your stew. I hate it. But I appreciate your kindness in serving it."

Leia's eyes widened in horror even as Yoda smiled, then chuckled, then wheezed in obvious amusement.

"Honest you are, Solo," the old elf finally choked out. "Good, good! Do not like it I also. Just making it I like. Never again you will have to eat it, never!"

Han smiled in broad and honest relief, then glanced at Leia to see how she was taking all this.

His wife was no longer paying attention to either the aged Jedi or her husband.

"Luke?" she asked, her eyes unfocused.

"What?" Han asked, sitting up abruptly. "Is something wrong with the Kid?"

"Oh, how exciting!" she exclaimed aloud as her gaze focused on her husband. "Han, Mara just gave birth to a boy and a girl!"

_The End _

_Author Note: Thanks again to those of you who have faithfully followed me or this story and to those of you who have reviewed my natterings. Thanks again to my beloved husband who edits. Lastly, the end of this fic is a call back to an old children's book "George and Martha" – Martha loves to make split pea soup and her friend George loathes split pea soup! _


End file.
